‘Go with your heart,’ Bertini will tell grads

Humanitarian Catherine Bertini, the university's Spring Commencement speaker, said she does not expect graduating seniors to know exactly what they want to be doing in 10 or 20 years, much like she did not when she received her college diploma.


"When you walk out of graduation, you don't have to say, ‘OK, I'm going to do this and I'm going to do it for the rest of my life,'" Bertini said. "A lot of people don't know exactly, so do what would make you happy right now, what would make you fulfilled right now and do something you feel an interest in right now. And then you just build on that."


This is the advice Bertini would like to pass on to the class of 2010. She also plans to discuss the principles by which she lives. She said hopes they will be helpful to the graduating seniors.


"I want to say some things in a meaningful way that people can remember and that will be helpful to them as they carry out their careers," Bertini said.


She said she was honored when she was asked by the university to speak at commencement, and was happy to say yes.


"I think that for someone that has had experiences that I have had, it's part of our responsibility to try to support, guide and motivate students, whether that's in terms of teaching or speaking at commencement," Bertini said.


Bertini was the executive director for the United Nations World Food Program, a program dedicated to ending world hunger, for 10 years. The program helped distribute food to 90 countries and became the largest humanitarian aid organization in the world, she said. 

Bertini served under the secretary general of the U.N. for two-and-a-half years. She served as the chair of the U.N. Systems Standing Committee on Nutrition for four years, during which she assisted in creating policies to give people access to healthy food, Bertini said.


While Bertini said she is proud of her accomplishments and grateful for all the opportunities she has had, she would change one thing about her career.


"I would probably want to start my career earlier," she said. "I was in politics in college, and for five years after, and then went into the private sector for 10 years. All of that was important, but I really did not join federal government until I was 37. I think if I was able to join somewhat earlier, I could have perhaps had even more opportunities."


The best advice Bertini said she can offer to the seniors as they enter the job market in a struggling economy is to do what they enjoy doing and work hard.


"People need to go with their heart, you know, and decide what makes them really happy," she said. "Sometimes that is not what is going to pay the most money. There are a lot of options to really make a difference in the world."


Everything the students do in their lifetime will provide rich experiences, even if it is not the career path the students will be on in the future, Bertini said.


"If you do something now that you like, even if it's not something you will be doing in 10 years, you will have done it, you will have felt good about it, you will have had that experience," she said. "And your life will be richer in the long run."